Rating: 10/10

Top Track: ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’

Welcome to my tenth post! I decided to start the precedent of writing about one of my albums every tenth post, which is why I’m covering a Nirvana album this week. While I love writing about of my dad’s vinyl collection, I wanted to include some of my own personal collection to this blog. This album was a Christmas gift from my mom last year and is one of the few vinyl records that I did not inherit from my dad. It’s also a 180 gram vinyl, which means it’s thicker and heavier than the average vinyl record which is believed to give it a smoother ride on the turn table and subsequently a richer audio quality. I can attest that it definitely sounds better through my speakers than through my earbuds. Grunge music is meant to be played loud. No exceptions. This album is also the first to receive a 10/10 rating. That might seem bias since it’s my album, and that might be the case, but hey, this is album is number two on my list of top albums. Plus, Kirk Cobain is one of the greatest song writers of all-time; I’m talking Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Joni Mitchell caliber-level. Now, that’s just my opinion, but you don’t revolutionize the music world by being mediocre. This album took the world by storm, and it blew my teenage mind when I first listened to it.

While an argument for tracks like ‘In Bloom’ and ‘Come As You Are’ to be named Top Track could be made, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ is simply one of the greatest songs to be recorded. Kurt’s signature chord progression and Dave Grohl’s snare drum hits at the start of the song make it instantly recognizable and a great start to a terrific album. Cobain was inspired to create the “ultimate pop song” after listening to the Pixies. He came up with ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. The wall of sound that just comes blasting out of my speakers is insane. The thing with listening to music on my phone through my earbuds is that I can only play it so loud before blowing out my eardrums. With my turntable and speakers, I can truly turn it up. Not only do I consider this one of the greatest songs ever, it’s inarguably one of the best songs to headbang to, which I am currently doing. And with my shaggy pandemic hair, it’s really fun. There is no perfect song, but this one comes pretty damn close for me. The combination of Cobain’s lyrics and vocals, Grohl’s incredible drumming, and Krist Novoselic’s simple, but effective bass playing is something can never be recreated. The lyrics to this song are truly interesting and somewhat cryptic. And I think most of us are guilty of butchering the “a mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido” line. The song’s music video is also legendary in its own right. I mean, it has over 1 billion views on YouTube. I wasn’t alive in 1991, but I can just imagine that video was all over MTV at that time. I just can’t get enough of the janitor and his mop; if you know, you know. Suffice to say I absolutely love this song. And if my gushing wasn’t enough to prove that this song will forever remain one of the greatest songs ever, Weird Al Yankovic made sure it was cemented in music history forever with his parody ‘Smells Like Nirvana’. In it, he makes fun of the fact that it’s hard to tell what Kurt is singing half the time and legend has it that he called into Nirvana’s dressing room before the band’s legendary SNL performance asking if he could parody the song. Man, I love everything about this song.

Let’s talk about the album cover. It’s a naked baby in a swimming pool going after a dollar bill on a fish hook. Why? Who knows and who cares. I’m sure there is a big ol’ story behind the whole thing, but that would be way too much detail and way too much for me to go into. Besides, I’m here to write about the music. All I’ll say about the cover is that it’s one of the most well-known album cover in pop culture history. The members of band at this time consisted of singer, guitarist, and songwriter Kurt Cobain, drummer Dave Grohl, and bassist Krist Novoselic. This was Grohl’s first appearance on a Nirvana album as previous band drummer, Chad Channing, just wasn’t cutting it for Kurt. The band started recording the album with Channing, but decided to can him a few days into recording. The only sound of Channing’s drums left on the album are some symbol crashes on ‘Polly’. This album would push Grohl into the limelight with the rest of the band and would allow him to rise to his own level of stardom as the frontman of this own band, the Foo Fighters, after Cobain’s death in 1994.

For me, there is no low point on this album; and that includes the last track ‘Something In The Way’ with hidden track ‘Endless, Nameless’. Both slower tracks about Cobain’s experience with homelessness. The thing I love about Cobain’s lyrics is that he put his heart and soul into every single track. There is no fluff or filler tracks on this album. Every song, every lyric has some sort of meaning; and that’s something that’s difficult to find with many artists. This album also features the first backup vocals on a Nirvana record when Grohl played some of his own songs for Cobain and the two shortly started to practice harmonizing. A great example of this is ‘Polly’. Grohl can be heard backing up Cobain during the chorus of the song. Grohl, only 22 at the time, had a higher pitched voice which compliments Cobain’s gruff, bronchitis-filled voice. In a song about domestic abuse, the simple acoustic guitar and harmonies give a nice break to the heaviness of the rest of the album.

I could write about this album forever if I had the opportunity, I mean a new post dedicated to every single track on the album. I guess I could do that with this blog, but I don’t think many people would enjoy reading my fanboy love letters to Nirvana. I acknowledge that this album’s sound might not be for everyone and that’s okay. That’s what this blog is all about. Giving some different music a chance. My argument to that immediate dismissive quality some people have is that music is not all about sound. It’s about the message and the intent of the artist. Kurt Cobain is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of artist. I think his genius and songwriting abilities are some of the greatest the world has ever seen or heard. And I think his music will live on forever. It’s just too bad he couldn’t.